Patient vultures

This committee of vultures has been waiting its turn for longer than a day near a rhino carcass where a large pride of lions is still feasting. Not allowing lesser beings to share alike. Rhino skin, even the skin of the large ungulates could not be torn by a vulture.

So they wait for the big-toothed ones to open access to the food, always hoping that the pride will be sated before supplies run out.

In Latin the verb vellere meaning to tear, related to vultur, Latin for vulture, denoting the tearer that describes the bird’s feeding habits. Vultures have been eating this way for a long time; also learnt to wait for a little help from their friends, who would not act friendly at all if they get too forward from hunger. Patience rewards. You have to know your game in the wild.

Dead trees that remain upright provide excellent big bird perches in the veld. Baboon sentinels also use them. The association between bird and tree as seen here, is as old as this veld.

It is said that a dead hardekool or leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe, may still be standing for a century after losing its last leaf. And that after sometimes having lived for longer than a millennium, accommodating generations of vultures (Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Wikipedia).